When I read a new report on app store trends for 2013 recently, my most irritating fear was confirmed: The freemium app business model has not only won the app sales model, it has handily crushed the paid app model -- squeezed it down into a tiny sliver of relative revenue. The results are so tilted that even more new apps will apparently be written entirely with the freemium model in mind.

One of the best side effects of Apple's app ecosystem is spinoffs -- in addition to great games and apps for most everything imaginable, successful franchises can create apps to keep stoking the adoration of fans. If you haven't noticed the invasion of Duck Dynasty-branded merchandise in department stores everywhere, you might have stumbled upon the surprisingly delightful Battle of the Beards app.

Instagram has dipped its toes into private-photo and video messaging waters. Instagram Direct allows the community's more than 150 million monthly active users to send photos and videos within a group. The process of sending a private message works just like posting a photo or video publicly: Take a new photo or upload an existing one, slap on a filter and effects, and add a caption and tags.

Spotify announced Wednesday that it is offering a new free mobile streaming option to listeners, a move that could help it compete in the evolving digital entertainment space. Mobile users previously were limited to the Spotify Premium plan, which provides streaming access on phones or tablets for $9.99 per month. Spotify also announced the addition of Led Zeppelin to its content lineup.

More than 5 million students in 167 countries are getting at least one hour of computer coding instruction this week as part of Code.org's Hour of Code initiative, an event designed to promote computer science in educational curricula worldwide. Code.org is providing educators with the resources they need to give students an introductory computer science lesson.

Comic Life's latest incarnation has some really useful new additions: a script editor, new filters, a background knockout feature and some new fill options. With great new features, though, come greater complexity and greater demands on screen real estate, which can make the software more difficult to use for newbies and challenging to manage on Macs with smaller screens.

Let's get this clear up front: I am not a Twitter expert. I've used multiple accounts for different purposes; I enjoy following a few personalities; I like searching through Twitter.
Until now, I've rarely bothered to tweet or mess with Twitter on my iPhone or iPad, preferring to use the standard browser-based method on my Mac. I know I'm missing out, though.

Apple has taken a step toward a more interactive shopping experience, activating iOS 7's iBeacon technology at its 254 U.S. retail outlets. It was to start providing information about in-store products and services directly to customers' iPhones, based on their location within the store, on Friday. The iBeacon technology allows Apple to target iPhones within a centimeter.

Gmail may not be the prettiest email program in the world. Yahoo Mail is easier on the eye. Microsoft's Outlook online has a clean and modern appeal. Nevertheless, many of us use Gmail -- warts and all -- so any app that adds utility to the Google offering can be worthwhile. Mailplane has been around for six years, but its developers have given it a makeover in this latest edition.

If you've spent a good portion of your life sitting around a table with colleagues who need to plan and strategize, then you've likely used old-school markers to jot notes on sheets of white paper -- or on dry-erase whiteboards. There is a better way. Enter Zamurai Mobile Whiteboard for iOS, a well-designed app that lets you drag and drop handy and commonly used icons onto your whiteboard.

NaturalMotion first wowed Apple fans at last year's September Apple event with a tantalizing demo of a new game, Clumsy Ninja, which was teased to hit iOS sometime during the 2012 holiday season. Santa came and went, and no little kids played Clumsy Ninja. And then boom, Apple reveals Clumsy Ninja as an Editor's Choice app in the iTunes App Store with, get this, a video trailer.

Blaring bargain news over PA systems may become a thing of the past if a pilot project launched Thursday by Macy's and Shopkick catches on with the brick-and-mortar set. The companies are conducting the experiments in Macy's San Francisco and New York City stores. The pilot feeds deal and discount information to shoppers as they roam through a store.

FiftyThree, which has earned kudos in the iPad community for its critically acclaimed art app Paper, has moved into the hardware business with a new stylus called "Pencil." The stylus, which looks like a carpenter's pencil, comes in two versions: a graphite offering for $49.95 and a walnut one for $59.95. "Its balance is beautiful," said Mobile Art Academy Education Director Caroline Mustard.

With the Major League Baseball season over, some fans of the American national pastime have started to suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Others are hashing over the past season and mulling the next in Hot Stove Leagues. Out Of The Park baseball should bring a smile to both these groups of diamond followers. The baseball simulation game lets a baseball fan experience the game from outside the lines.

Apple angered millions of iPhone users -- and baffled millions more -- when it ditched the generally functional built-in Google-based Maps app in favor of its own. That was last year, when it introduced iOS 6. Howls of anger rocketed across the Web, and fanboys of other platforms -- including some Apple enthusiasts -- started tracking Apple Maps fails.

Duck Dynasty is an American reality television series on A&E featuring a band of redneck family men who sport ratty beards. They became wealthy by making the popular duck call, Duck Commander, and the reality show itself? It's a wild phenomenon -- the fourth season premiere snagged a whopping 11.8 million viewers. When I saw that the show had a No. 1 paid app game, I had to take a closer look.

The Department of Energy has developed an iPhone app designed to help drivers locate the nearest alternative fuel stations. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory unveiled the iPhone app Thursday. Users can choose the alternative fuel they need -- electricity, natural gas, biodiesel, E85, propane or hydrogen -- and the app will display the 20 closest stations within a 30-mile radius.

Apple has delivered a delightful mix of products and profits this year, all the while facing skepticism from various quarters over its strategies, plans and abilities to take over the world -- especially the part with low-end, cheap markets. Apple also has been caught up in the scrutiny of tech companies that work with various law enforcement agencies to turn over customer data.

Stop Motion Studio is an app that lets you take photos and string them together to create a stop-motion video. It's super easy, and the results are naturally sort of dorky in an undeniably fun way. The app is free, but before I pulled the trigger on the in-app extras, I saw Stop Motion Studio Pro for $4.99. I promptly deleted the free version and bought the paid Pro version.

A flaw found in a "staggering number" of apps for the iPhone and iPad could be exploited to send malicious information to the gadgets, researchers at Skycure reported Tuesday. The vulnerability allows enterprising hackers to redirect an app's communication with its appointed server to one operated by nefarious parties. The flaw could affect other mobile platforms too.

Disney is giving one of its new children's shows a home on mobile devices before it broadcasts the program via its TV networks. Sheriff Callie's Wild West, the first Western for 2-to-7-year-olds, according to the company, will make its debut on Disney's Watch Disney Junior App on Nov. 24. It will also be available online to viewers who subscribe to certain TV providers' services.

Yet another video camera app? What gives? Can it really be that cool? To find out what Spark Camera brings to the world, I bought it -- and I was pleasantly surprised. First, the interface is super simple, clean and effective. To start recording, you just put any finger or thumb on the screen and hello, you're recording. Take your finger off the screen, and you stop recording.

Way back in 1993, a little exploratory puzzle mystery game called Myst was released for the Mac. It took off to become one of the best-selling -- and moodiest -- games ever, expanding to a variety of other platforms. The creators followed up with Riven, and now, 20 years after Myst, they are using Kickstarter to launch a new indie-developed game, Obduction.

Demo's fall conference took place last week. This show has proven to be both a great and an expensive experience for me every year. Great because the technology shown is often truly amazing; expensive because I almost always end up buying one or two items, and my taste trends toward pricey. This year was no different, and my product of the week is the product I'd most like to personally own.

Like most gadget geeks, I get obsessed with the speed of things, the fast and snappy feel of a Mac, an OS, an app. After an upgrade to a new iPhone or Mac, my brain inevitably catches up to the speed boost and it feels as if I'm once again waiting for things to happen, waiting for apps to launch, for transitional graphic swooshes to do their thing.

Supercell has closed on a round of funding totaling $1.53 billion. SoftBank and GungHo Online Entertainment, which made the joint investment, will hold 51 percent of Supercell's outstanding voting stock. Supercell creates games for mobile and tablet platforms on the free-to-play business model. Games are free, but in-game purchases enhance the gameplay and help players advance through levels.

I never would have imagined that I would jump on the bandwagon for the CEO of a British luxury fashion company, but here I am preparing to gush over Angela Ahrendts, who will take over Apple's retail store operations in early 2014. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement Monday, and the first thing that came to mind was that the massively male executive team at Apple was finally choosing a woman.

One of the amazing things about our new connected world of software development and easy access to consumers is how old-school games can find new life with entirely new audiences through iOS and OS X. Case in point? The Dragon's Lair 30th Anniversary app for iOS. Dragon's Lair is a really old arcade game. Seriously old, as in it was a laserdisc video game. I barely remember laserdiscs.

This week's All Things Appy takes a look at the five best, free geo-oriented apps for the iOS platform. To keep your costs down, we're concentrating on those tracking apps that don't require additional hardware, like sensors. Not all mobile Apple hardware products have GPS satellite location, which many of these apps require for best results. The iPod is one of those.

MUBI is an app for classic and independent movie lovers: Each day, the MUBI team hand picks an international, independent or classic film. MUBI subscribers can then view that film for up to 30 days, and effectively, this means that you can watch 30 or so movies each month for $4.99, or less per month if you sign up for six months or a year. The MUBI app is fantastic.